Episode: 155 The Lady Buzzkill: Danielle B. on Alcohol, Cancer, and Who Gets Hurt | RMA 155

Danielle B. didn't quit drinking because she hit bottom. By every standard society uses, her drinking looked completely normal; a few nights a week, a high tolerance, no rock bottom, no trouble stopping. She didn't learn alcohol causes cancer until she was 40, and the word she uses for how that felt is duped. And angry. One reel in June went viral, and she's been talking ever since as Lady Buzzkill.

Mike and Nat go deep with her on how little honest information about alcohol actually reaches people, and how much marketing reaches kids instead, including the beer logo that ended up on a box of crackers. Why modeling moderation doesn't protect children the way parents hope. Why calling alcohol a drug is apparently the most inflammatory thing you can say on the internet, and the hate she's gotten for saying it. Why comparing alcohol to sugar and hot dogs is a logical fallacy. Alcohol as a neurotoxin, as a parasite, and as the side effect of a poison rather than a state your body was built to enjoy. Plus the secondary harms nobody counts — roughly four in ten people killed in alcohol-impaired crashes weren't the one who chose to drink.

WIW: Nat brings the mystery sound that rattled Milwaukee's South Side on Monday night. Residents miles apart heard it on and off for about two hours. One neighbor called it a robot alien screech; others swore it was a recording repeatedly saying "bad boy." Not a siren, not a train, not a tornado. Police, the Department of Neighborhood Services, and the county supervisor all received nothing about it. The source is still unknown.

FIND DANIELLE B.:

Facebook — https://www.facebook.com/TheLadybuzzkill Instagram — @Ladybuzzkill_ YouTube — Lady_Buzzkill

LINKS:

Mystery sound baffles Milwaukee residents (WISN 12) — https://www.wisn.com/article/robot-alien-screech-mysterious-sound-baffles-milwaukee-residents/73855194 Nat's WIW video — https://www.youtube.com/shorts/GahP8ifuT-0 NHTSA 2024 alcohol-impaired driving data — https://crashstats.nhtsa.dot.gov/Api/Public/Publication/813713 Surgeon General's Advisory on Alcohol and Cancer Risk — https://www.hhs.gov/surgeongeneral/priorities/alcohol-cancer/index.html

Recovery in the Middle Ages is a podcast about finding lasting sobriety later in life. Mike and Nat are two middle-aged suburban dads covering addiction recovery news, 12 Step and alternative recovery paths, alcohol use disorder, and the research behind it all.

This podcast does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment.

Please SUBSCRIBE on your favorite platform, and leave us a 5-star review if you're enjoying the show.

We're listener-supported. As little as $3 a month keeps the lights on: https://www.patreon.com/RecoveryintheMiddleAges

Tell us your story and we'll share it on the show — miker@middleagesrecovery.com Nat: Natx@middleagesrecovery.com Facebook page and private group — request to join and keep the conversation going.

If you're in trouble with substance abuse, reach out. We neither endorse nor condemn any particular program, but the sheer number of AA and NA meetings makes that a good first step — maybe not the last step — on your road to recovery. https://www.aa.org/ · https://www.na.org/meetingsearch/

RMA 154 — Ole Miss, Presley Gerber, Methadone at the Pharmacy

Season 7 · Episode 154

Two Ole Miss students were found dead with packaged kratom at both scenes and nothing confirmed by toxicology. Presley Gerber, Cindy Crawford's 27-year-old son, died of a suspected overdose hours after checking into a Santa Monica rehab. And MOTAA 2.0 — the bipartisan methadone bill — would let addiction physicians prescribe methadone and put it on pharmacy shelves in the 80% of US counties with no opioid treatment program. Mike and Nat try a new format this week, each building a separate outline and pitching stories cold. Then the lighter half: coffee raves, Brad Pitt drinking again after seven years sober, Elton John's non-alcoholic wine at 36 years, and a Lower East Side sober bar ranked ninth in North America.

RITN: Elton John hits 36 years sober six months after launching his own 0% wine, and a James Beard winner puts a zero-proof mole negroni on the menu at one of North America's best bars. Sobriety stopped being the consolation prize.

WIW: Over 100 people gathered above Ocean Beach in San Francisco to scream at the Pacific. Judged on volume, length, and style. The winner hit 121.9 decibels. First prize was a small megaphone. Attendees brought freshly cut fruit.

• Ole Miss student deaths and kratom — https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/ole-miss-student-deaths-kratom-rcna599305
• Students identified — https://www.cnn.com/2026/09/24/us/ole-miss-student-deaths-wwk
• Presley Gerber death investigated as overdose — https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/presley-gerber-son-cindy-crawford-dies-27-rcna598952
• MOTAA 2.0 methadone bill (Markey/Paul) — https://www.markey.senate.gov/news/press-releases/sens-markey-paul-reintroduce-legislation-to-modernize-rules-for-treating-opioid-use-disorder
• ASAM on methadone access — https://www.asam.org/advocacy/national-advocacy/methadonetxoud
• The case against MOTAA 2.0 — https://filtermag.org/motaa-2-0-methadone-reform/
• Elton John and sober celebrity brands — https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/celebrity/articles/13-celebrities-opened-sobriety-203000987.html
• NYC sober bar scene — https://millennialmagazine.com/2026/06/01/sober-curious/
• Coffee raves and soft clubbing — https://grass.camp/en-US/blog/soft-clubbing-coffee-rave-run-rave-trend-2026
• 'Scream at the Sea' Competition Crowns a Winner — https://www.coasttocoastam.com/article/scream-at-the-sea-competition-crowns-a-winner/

ole miss kratom, presley gerber, cindy crawford son, 7-oh, methadone pharmacy, MOTAA 2.0, opioid treatment, addiction recovery, sobriety, brad pitt sober, sober bars nyc, alcohol use disorder, recovery podcast

Recovery in the Middle Ages is a podcast about finding lasting sobriety later in life. Mike and Nat are two middle-aged suburban dads covering addiction recovery news, 12 Step and alternative recovery paths, alcohol use disorder, and the research behind it all.

This podcast does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment.

Please SUBSCRIBE on your favorite platform, and leave us a 5-star review if you're enjoying the show.

We're listener-supported. As little as $3 a month keeps the lights on: https://www.patreon.com/RecoveryintheMiddleAges

Tell us your story and we'll share it on the show — miker@middleagesrecovery.com Nat: Natx@middleagesrecovery.com Facebook page and private group — request to join and keep the conversation going.

If you're in trouble with substance abuse, reach out. We neither endorse nor condemn any particular program, but the sheer number of AA and NA meetings makes that a good first step — maybe not the last step — on your road to recovery. https://www.aa.org/ · https://www.na.org/meetingsearch/

Note: the first italic paragraph is new. It's what makes an episode page about Presley Gerber also turn up for "recovery podcast" and "sobriety later in life" — the traffic that actually subscribes. Put it on every episode from here on.

Episode: 153: What Fills the Hole?

Last week, we asked whether America is genuinely getting sober or simply swapping one addiction for another. This week, we examine what people are using to replace drugs and alcohol.

Nobody warns you that quitting leaves a hole — not a metaphorical one, a real five-o'clock-on-a-Tuesday hole where a thing used to go. Something is going to fill it. (Hehe). The only question is what, and whether you picked it or it picked you.

So today: emergency rooms are seeing twice as many gambling cases since sports betting went online, and the industry says that's just better screening. Twenty-five companies are suddenly racing to build a pill for drinking, in a field that's had three drugs for decades. Half the guys we know who quit drinking now have a tin of nicotinein their pocket. And the non-alcoholic drinks business has figured out that the one thing its product can't do — make you feel something — is the thing people actually want, so they're putting THC in it.

Four replacements. Some of them are fine. Some are the same deal wearing a different hat. We try to work out which is which.

LINKS:

Gambling ER visits for gambling disorders double after online sports betting — https://www.deseret.com/lifestyle/2026/09/16/sports-betting-gambling-addiction-disorder-emergency-room-visits-increase-study/ Prediction markets and the new gambling frontier — https://woub.org/2026/09/08/ohio-university-modern-science-gambling-addiction-prediction-markets/ Sports betting addiction statistics — https://gamblingharm.org/sports-betting-addiction-statistics/

The AUD drug pipeline 25+ companies, 25+ investigational therapies — https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/09/11/3360198/28124/en/alcohol-use-disorder-pipeline-insight-2026-examines-25-companies-and-25-emerging-therapies.html Shorter trials, more reliable results — https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/acer.70368

Nicotine pouches Nicotine pouch use surges — https://www.cdcfoundation.org/blog/Nicotine-Pouch-Use-Surges-Among-Young-People The evidence that pouches help smokers quit is limited — https://www.theexamination.org/articles/nicotine-pouches-smoking-path-data

Sober September and what's in the glass Sober September, 2026 edition — https://sober.com/sober-september-offers-a-chance-to-reaffirm-your-sobriety/

Week in Weird Hard Mountain Dew's $1M Bigfoot Bounty — https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2026/09/16/3363360/0/en/hard-mountain-dew-puts-1m-bounty-on-bigfoot-this-fall.html Maine police: it was a guy in a costume — https://www.boston.com/news/local-news/2026/09/02/bigfoot-sighting-was-just-a-man-in-a-costume/

This podcast does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment.

Please SUBSCRIBE on your favorite platform, and leave us a 5-star review if you're enjoying the show.

We're listener-supported. As little as $3 a month keeps the lights on: https://www.patreon.com/RecoveryintheMiddleAges

Tell us your story and we'll share it on the show — miker@middleagesrecovery.com Nat: Natx@middleagesrecovery.com Facebook page and private group — request to join and keep the conversation going.

If you're in trouble with substance abuse, reach out. We neither endorse nor condemn any particular program, but the sheer number of AA and NA meetings makes that a good first step — maybe not the last step — on your road to recovery. https://www.aa.org/ · https://www.na.org/meetingsearch/